One of the hot button issues among teachers is the student use of cell phones in the classroom. Some teachers find the very sight of a student holding a cell phone in the classroom an act of reprehensible behavior. I say, embrace the cell phone! Don’t ban the one device that students are most comfortable using!
What follows is in followed by exclamation points because I’m standing on my imaginary soapbox:
Free the cell phone and put it to good use in your classroom! Turn it from a device of evil to one that engages and increases participation in your classroom! Since student phones are generally always on, you’ll find that you can get your class started in a snap when you ask your students to take out their phones for use with a particular exercise! Don’t shun the phone, embrace it! As with adults, students are apt to be more productive using a tool that they're familiar with and enjoy using!
Use the following apps to engage students using their phones!
Socrative: A fantastic formative assessment app! Socrative has an app specifically for teachers as well as students. Wnat to quickly get started? Simply ask your students to take out their cell phones and fire up the Socrative student app. They can participate in a space race game or take a quiz, all from their phone!
Kahoot: Kahoot has an app tailored for a smart device. Give your students the code and their off and running! Start your class simply by asking your students to open the app and enter the code. You can do a review of the previous days learning or assess what your students have learned at the end of the period.
Google Keep: The Google Keep app is a great way for students to take notes. Todays student are pretty adept at typing away on their smat phones, so why not let them jot down some notes using the Keep app? If you want to make sure their taking notes and not texting their significant other, ask your students to share the notes with you by adding a collaborator or sending the notes to Google Docs and sharing them to Google Classroom.
Adobe Spark: Adobe Spark has a suite of apps that include, Video, Post, and Page. All three are only available on iOS with Post available on Android. Video allows students to shoot and edit video, Post allows for graphic design work while Page allows for the creation of a web page.
Google Classroom: If your a Google Classroom school, allowing students to use their phones to access their Google Classroom is a must. After all, as teachers, we want to promote that students are actively engaged in their class, during the school day and after the school day. What better way to do this than to ask student to install the Google Classroom app on their phone. Having the app will encourage them to stay up to date on their classroom activities such as pending due dates for assignments and class discussions in the stream.
What do you think?
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